


melt your headaches, call it home

by briony_larkin



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Unplanned Pregnancy, seriously your teeth might rot, unadulterated fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 06:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6944179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briony_larkin/pseuds/briony_larkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy and Steve go back to her hometown for the weekend. They have their own reasons for wanting to do that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	melt your headaches, call it home

**Author's Note:**

> should i be working on my two other unfinished stories? yes. but i saw thid post, and i was listening to pretty. odd. and driving through a little town and i saw a little house with a "family clinic" sign on the door and i got this little idea.
> 
> and i wrote it in two days! this is the fastest i've ever finished anything.
> 
> so yeah. this is pure, unadulterated, unmitigated fluff. you may need to visit a dentist after this. not even sorry.
> 
> (except for the super long author's note. kind of sorry about that.)

Darcy is glad she convinced Steve to come visit her parents with her for the weekend. It didn't take a lot of convincing, actually. Still, she's very glad she suggested it and even more glad he was alright with golfing with her dad for the morning and that her mom is out grocery for dinner tonight (Steve eats a lot). That makes this a lot easier to do.

She picks her way along the meandering streets of her hometown, past small, cramped houses surrounded by flowers in bloom and green trees and bushes, until she sees the sign on the door of the little lavender house that was the reason she was here in the first place. Here, there were no cameras to see this. No one would know before she wanted them to know.

Darcy does laugh a little at the idea that the place she'd hated because everyone knew everything and there was no privacy was now the place she was going for privacy.

Still, she looks around her before she closes the door of the clinic. The sign that reads “Family Clinic” in faded gold paint rattles as she steps inside.

The matronly woman sitting behind the receptionist desk looks up and smiles warmly at her. “Darcy, dear! How are you?”

“Oh, I'm alright, Mrs. Hanson,” Darcy says as she pushes a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Well, come on in and have a seat. There's some water over there if you'll need some.” She points to a little black fridge in the corner.

“I think I’m good.” Darcy sits down and picks up one of the glossy magazines on the table.

“If you're sure, dear. I'll just go back and let Doctor Bennet know you're here.”

Darcy nodded and thanked her before pretending to read the magazine. She couldn't focus on anything if she tried.

She didn't bother trying.

Her foot rapidly tapped an anxious rhythm into the rug. She drummed her fingers on the pages of whatever magazine she picked up– ah, a parenting magazine. Of course. _Great._

Fortunately, it doesn't take Doctor Bennet long to come and call her back. “Hey, Darcy, it's been a while!”

Great, the awkward side-hug thing. Darcy hates the awkward side-hug thing. But she grins and bears it. After all, Liz Bennet, who is twelve years older than her, is another living testament to a mother who loved Colin Firth a little too much. Little Liz Bennet had made it her life's mission to look out for Darcy. She'd babysat her and kept her from breaking a leg more than once. The least Darcy can do is put up with the awkward side-hug thing.

“Yeah.” Darcy swallows hard. “It's been a while since I've been back here.”

Liz keeps up the mindless chatter as she does a very basic checkup, height and weight, pulse, blood pressure, reflexes. Darcy's glad, again. At this point, though, she isn't sure she could carry on a conversation that required more than basic answers.

Finally, the doctor stops her movements and peers into Darcy’s blue eyes. Darcy bites her lip. What is she looking for?

“Are you okay?” Liz finally says.

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay,” Darcy says halfheartedly. Liz raises her eyebrows and Darcy is reminded forcefully of Natasha. She grins. Well, neither of them put up with other people's bullshit. “I'm just sort of nervous.” She rubs the fabric of her shirt together and looks at the floor.

Liz’s face softens into understanding. “Of course,” she says gently. “I thought you might be. That's why I'm doing every part of this myself. I'll even do your tests right here so you can have the results sooner. It'll take ten minutes,” she promises.

Darcy pushes another lock of hair behind her ear. “Thank you,” she murmurs.

The waiting is terrible. It can't take Liz more than ten minutes to take some of Darcy's blood and another ten to run the test, but it feels like an eternity. She isn't sure if the test being positive or negative is scarier.

Then Liz looks up at her, and smiles, and congratulates her because the test is positive. And Darcy is fucking _terrified_ , but she's so, so _happy_. She can't wait to tell Steve.

Oh God. How is she going to tell Steve?

The rest of her visit at the clinic blurs together. Before she knows it, she's back outside, the sun hitting her face, warming her. Birds chirp and the world is gorgeous around her, but it is hard for her to notice it. 

She takes the long way home, thinking, thinking, thinking about how to tell Steve. Her hand reaches down to her stomach and rubs unconsciously. The next thing she knows, she's standing in front of her parents’ house.

Steve barrels out of the house and wraps his arms around her. He lifts her off her feet and she wraps her legs around his waist. “No one was sure where you were. I was worried,” he says, his words muffled into the crook of her neck.

“Sorry, I'm sorry,” she murmurs. “I was going to be back before you guys. It took longer than I thought. I'm sorry.”

He sets her down and brushes her hair away from her face. “Hey, it's okay.” Steve cradles her face with his hands. She kisses him briefly. His hands drop to her waist and she lays her head on his chest. “Where were you?” he asks, not accusingly, just curiously.

“I went down to the clinic.” This close to him, she can almost feel him start to worry. “Nothing's wrong,” she says quickly. “The doctor down there used to babysit me. We bonded over mothers who loved Pride and Prejudice too much. I'm luckier than she is. Her name is Elizabeth Bennet.”

Steve laughs. He moves to her side and slips his fingers through hers. “Do you want to walk down to the harbor?”

Darcy thinks his voice shakes a little. He sounds nervous, but she can’t think why. It’s probably just because she’s nervous, so she thinks he is too. “Sure,” she agrees easily.

They walk along winding roads and down all of Darcy’s favorite paths. This isn’t the first time he’s met her parents, but it is the first time he’s been to her hometown, and she wants to show him everything she loves. After about twenty minutes, they stop on the shore. Near the lilac bushes, she picks some flowers and sticks them in Steve’s hair, then laughs as he makes a face at her and crosses his eyes.

They walk to the water’s edge and she shivers. He takes off his jacket and slides it onto her shoulders. She slips her hands into the pockets. Her fingertips brush something velvet and she yanks her hand back like she’s been burned.

Her eyes dart up to Steve’s and it must be exactly what she thinks it is because hope and happiness shine bright in his eyes. Slowly, she draws the box out of her pocket and oh so carefully, she opens it. Winking up at her from its silk lining bed is a diamond set in a gold band.

(Steve had Bucky come along with him when he designed it so he could make it look like his ma’s ring.)

Darcy gasps and looks at Steve with tears pooling in her eyes. She can’t speak and she doesn’t give him the chance to say anything, either. Instead, she nods and throws herself into his arms.

He lets out a shaky laugh. “I haven’t asked you anything yet.”

“Okay, yeah, okay.” Darcy wipes her face and nods. “Go ahead. Propose to me.”

Steve lowers himself to one knee and holds the ring out. “Darcy Lewis, will you marry me–”

Darcy barely waits for him to finish before crying, “Yes!” and hauling him off the ground with surprising strength for someone so small. She tugs him down so she can kiss him. Cool metal slides onto the fourth finger of her left hand as they kiss and she breaks away to look at it on her finger.

“You know,” he murmurs in her ear, “I had a whole speech planned out.”

 

She nudges him in the ribs. “I’m sure you did, Mr. Man With A Plan. But,” she bites her lip, “I have something to tell you that I don’t have a plan for, and it would be totally unfair to let you look all organized and shit when I’m like _this_ –”

He squeezes her hand, brushes his thumb over the ring, and she cuts herself off. “Sorry. I’m rambling.”

“I love your rambling,” he promises her.

There is love in their eyes when they look at each other, a love that promises to stay, to work out their fights, to love even when it’s hard. It’s one of the deepest loves possible between any two people.

“So, um, I didn’t tell you the whole reason that I went to the doctor,” she says. Panic appears in his eyes seconds later just like she knew it would. She takes his hands. “There isn’t anything wrong, I promise.”

Steve’s got his confused puppy face on. Yes, the one he insists that he doesn’t have. According to him, he has an excellent puppy face that gets him a lot of places, but the confused puppy face is not a thing, Darcy. Except it totally is. And it’s adorable. And she sort of wants to jump him. No, Darcy, focus.

(At least she’s not so nervous now. She’s acting very much herself again.)

“Why were you at the doctor’s office, Darcy?” That’s the Captain America face, which means he really wants answers right now, thank you.

“Liz Bennet works at a family clinic,” Darcy says quietly. Briefly, Steve’s face betrays his confusion. Then Darcy takes his hand and lays it on her lower stomach. “I’m pregnant.”

She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Steve look as happy as he does in that moment, pure, unadulterated joy written in bold capital letters across his face. He lifts her up and spins her around. Then he sets her down like she’s made of glass. “Oh hell . Is that okay? Can I do that?”

Darcy smiles at him. “Yes, you can do that,” she laughs. “I’m pregnant, not glass. I won’t break.”

“You’re pregnant,” he repeats giddly. (She will swear to the end of time that he actually, honest-to-goodness giggled. He will deny it to the end of the time.) “We’re gonna have a baby.”

“Yeah.” Darcy nods.

Steve kisses her, pouring every ounce of his joy and his love into the kiss and Darcy doesn’t think she’s ever felt anything so beautiful. She’s still fucking terrified, but she thinks that maybe that will make her a good mom. And she’s not at all worried about Steve.

She breaks the kiss to whisper, “You’re going to be a great dad. Like, the best dad ever.”

He smiles down at her and kisses her again, soft and sweet, and he promises her, “If I am, it’ll only because I have you.”

Darcy steps into Steve’s embrace. “I love you,” she says into his chest.

He kisses the top of her head. “I love you too.”


End file.
